My Daily Bread

I decided to get creative, and maybe a little extreme, for this Lent. My sacrifice: Eating only things that I prepared myself. Of course, there are some limitations. For example, I don't have enough time or the right materials to brew my own beer ;P   But I can bake my own bread.

What this recipe lacked in ingredients it made up for in directions. The first step is easy, just mix the yeast with some of the flour. That was the easiest part.

The butter, sugar, and salt had to be combined with water and heated to a specific temperature before being added to the flour and yeast.

Once the water mix was heated enough, an electric mixer was employed. First on low for 30 seconds, then on high for 3 full minutes. It doesn't seem like much when written, but you don't realize how loud that thing is until you're swishing it around in bowl on high for 3 mintues.

Then came the wooden spoon, which is used to "stir in" more flour.

Patience is a virtue. My mantra during this step was "Just keep stirring . . . just keep stirring . . ."

Then you have to knead the bread for 6-8 minutes. As tedious as it was, I really liked this part. I guess I like working with my hands.

Once the kneading is done, you get a nice long break. Yup, rising time! Form the dough into a ball, set it in a greased bowl, cover, and forget about it (for about two hours). As soon as it's doubled in size, you're ready to continue.

 

Then you split the dough in half and grease 2 loaf pans. I guess the silver lining is that all of this yields more than one loaf of bread.

After letting the halves rest for 10 minutes, you shape them into loaves and place them in the pans. Then, once again, you let them rise for as long as it takes for them to double in size.

Then you're finally ready to bake. Just 35 mintues until you have hot fresh baked bread cooling on a wire rack in your kitchen.

This is a sacrifice worth making . . .